Okay, Okay
by sarj2490
Summary: Post 'Wedding Crushers.' Every episode leaves me wanting more Dandy and I'm impatient so here it is... my take on what happened after the episode.
1. Chapter 1

He had to admit it. He was in a great mood. Richie has made his night. At first, he was so mad about the record... or more accurately the record's previous owner. While he still didn't want anything to do with his father, he was glad that Richie didn't feel that same pain. And he was proud that he was the reason for it. He kept replaying the moment where Richie said "I did have a dad," "You raised me Danny."

So yeah... he was in a great mood. Somehow they had repaired the vinyl so that it produced sounds resembling music and someone, probably Morgan, had suggested to limbo in the living room, and he didn't mind any of it. In fact, he was enjoying it. He'd come a long way from the guy who was afraid of buffalo chicken wings and their staining powers. Maybe it was the fact that he'd discovered he could remove the stains with baby powder and detergent or maybe he was growing. He liked to think it was the latter.

As he stood back admiring the young man he'd raised who, by the way, knows how to limbo, a familiar face came into view. Mindy.

"Hey, you made it! How was the wedding?" he said with a grin.

"Eh, I got laid," replied Peter who looked listlessly at his pizza.

Mindy cheerfully piped up "I ruined it."

"Sounds about right," he said cheekily, waiting for her reaction. Mindy always had some silly retort, but this time all she said was "Okay," with a little tilt of her head, dismissing the topic. "Okayyy," he said as he took a swig of his beer, not wanting to look away until she did.

There was something about the exchange. It was so simple, so unlike any of their usual bickering, so... he couldn't put his finger on it. Was it just his mood? Surely, he was just riding the high of a great night with his little brother in town. But as the night wore on, he found himself admiring Mindy more than his own handiwork. Somehow she managed to limbo, while eating her pizza and looking cute all at once. Boy, was he in trouble.

It had started for a couple of weeks ago, when they pretended to be a couple to keep his crazy neighbor pacified. It was like all at once, he noticed her. So naturally he'd been avoiding her a bit and that seemed to fix things. Less Mindy time = less Mindy infatuation. That's why the wedding had been "Perfect timing." But here she was... and she was being infatuating again, which just means she was just being herself . He was screwed. 100% screwed. Suddenly his great mood dissolved. He became pensive Danny. What was he going to do about this? Fortunately that's when Richie popped over to drag him to the limbo line and his problems were forgotten, for the time being.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny was in a great mood. She could tell. He was smiling ear to ear and didn't even chastise her when she'd mentioned ruining the wedding. He just smiled. He must really love Richie, was all she could think. Then he said "Okayyy." There was something about it. Wasn't there? Something about the way he'd lingered on the word and about the way he hadn't looked away from her the whole time. She was reading too much into it, she knew that, so she decided to do what she does best: limbo.

As the party wound down and she felt like since she was one of the last to arrive, she should be one of the last to leave. Normally she would dread being that person who overstays their welcome, but she knew that a) she should to help clean up if needed (she knew how messy it can be to throw a good party), b) she knew Danny had no issue telling her what to do, especially when it came to boundaries, and c) for some reason she wanted to push those boundaries, just a little bit. She wasn't sure why she liked pushing his buttons, but she did, immensely. Not to mention, she hadn't been able to keep from grinning like an idiot the whole evening. It seemed like Danny's good mood had been contagious and she didn't want that feeling to go away.

She'd taken the fall for Peter and Josh tonight like a champ, but that didn't mean that it didn't still hurt her to do so. Everyone had believed her so easily, too easily. Was she just that good of a liar? Or did she really seem like the kind of girl who would desperately throw themselves at the groom on the day of the wedding? Sure, sure, she had been that girl before, but she wasn't her anymore. She had grown, or at least she liked to think so.

The happy thing was, she hadn't felt any of that insecurity from the moment she stepped into Danny's apartment and so leaving just didn't feel like a good idea, not right now anyhow. Not when there were buttons to be pushed and a contagious good mood to be had.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to punchfacechampion and soverysesual for my first two reviews ever! Glad to see they were positive ones. Hope you guys like where this goes.**

* * *

Mindy was still there, after almost everyone had gone, including her "date" for the evening, Peter.

"Need any help cleaning up Danny boy?" she offered.

He was so perplexed he didn't respond for a second, but he shook himself out of it. "Sure. That's real nice of you Min. You're sure it's Mindy I'm talking to? No one put a pod under your bed last night?"

Mindy rolled her eyes "There you go ageing yourself again with some obscure reference."

"Hey, 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' is not obscure!" he replied indignantly.

"Danny, listen to me. I have no idea what you're talking about and no one else does either. It's **obscure** and you're **old**. But don't worry, I've got a nice retirement home picked out for you. Just say the word."

She chuckled to herself. Gosh, this was such fun. She waited for his reply, something sharp or dismissive. It was always 50/50 with Danny, but all he said was "Okay."

Her breath hitched for a moment. It means nothing she told herself, but what if it didn't? What if she just said, "Okayyy," in response? What then? She didn't have the answer, so in usual Mindy fashion, she dived in head first to get it.

"Okayyy," she said mimicking the way he'd stretched the word and the lopsided grin he'd paired with it.

* * *

His breath hitched. He hadn't realized what he'd said, until he said it. One stupid, simple word: _Okay._ What would look like a horribly mundane exchange to any outsider, was causing his heart to beat vehemently in his head and his palms to sweat. He collected himself as quickly as he could and just started tidying up.

Well, as they say, many hands make light work and with him, Richie and Mindy all working to put things back in order, they were done in less than half an hour. Richie was yawning and Danny told him to get some shut eye. Danny had already made sure he knew there was no use arguing about who slept on the couch and who slept on the bed because there was no way he'd win that one. And so now it was just the two of them. He looked at Mindy, hoping she would say something, anything to break him out of this trance. This was a dangerous situation for him. If less Mindy time equaled less Mindy infatuation, you can guess what more Mindy time did to him.

But she wasn't saying anything, she was just looking at him. He could feel the cogs in his mind turning, searching for words, any words, phrases, put together, sentences, much would like that, yes, food good, fire bad, Danny caveman. "Snap out of it!" he yelled internally, but then he saw the look of Mindy's face.

"Did I just say that out loud?" he asked.

"Yeah. You doing okay Dan? One too many times under the limbo stick?" she teased.

Danny shrugged. He could do this, he knew he could. This was teasing. this was flirting, **this** was easy.

"Guess so," he said "Or maybe I was just distracted by that pepperoni stuck in your teeth."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "What?!" she gasped, "And nobody told me!?"

Danny smiled smugly to himself. He'd just dodged a bullet there, deflected that attention from himself. "Smooth one Castellano," he thought contently.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for the follows, favs and reviews! It's really exciting to hear what you guys liked about the story. I'm open to suggestions and criticism for those of you that have any. Thanks again everyone.**

* * *

Mindy rummaged through her bag until she came across her compact and examined her teeth. Nothing. She'd been had! That sly devil.  
Time for a little pay back. She clicked the compact shut and turned towards her target. He didn't notice her staring as he made up the couch into a bed for the night.

She marched over to the couch and sat down as soon as he'd finished.

"Oh for me!? How nice of you. I didn't know if I could make it home in my current state, what with all that champagne from the wedding and everything."

She saw him tense up and she smiled to herself.

"And where am I supposed to sleep?" he questioned, patience waning already. She couldn't understand why he was losing his cool so quickly; she usually didn't get under his skin so fast. Hmm, she just must be on her game tonight.

"The floor, I suppose," she shrugged. "Don't you camp? You should be good at that right?"

His eyes, which had been staring into space/at the floor as they bantered now turned on her. They seemed angry at first, but then they changed. Fire still raged behind them, but it wasn't a fire of fury; it was hunger. This realization stopped her dead in her tracks, but it was too late.

Danny was moving towards her, his hand reached behind her neck and pulled her forward into his lips. She melted under the heat and pressure and gave way to the kiss. It wasn't hasty or sloppy, but slow and strong, like he was taking a deep breath after being underwater or a long gulp of water after a run. Her hands clasped the cushion underneath her as though they were anchoring her to the very Earth they were on. When he pulled away she felt light-headed, she was almost sure it was from a lack of oxygen during the kiss. She could hardly focus in on him when she felt the whole world fade to black...

* * *

Danny had been afraid to stop. He hadn't quite been sure how he got started, but now that he had, stopping did not seem like a good idea. But eventually he had to come up for air so he did and that's when she fainted. He stared at her limp body for a moment before realizing that maybe he should do something about this. He laid her down neatly on the couch to help her circulation out and went to the kitchen for a glass of water for when she came to.

Honestly, he was a little relieved this had happened. He had no idea how Mindy would react to his kiss and now he didn't have to find out. Or maybe the fainting was the reaction, but if that was the case, he didn't know how to read that. Did she faint because it was so amazing or because it was so revolting? Or maybe it was just a simple lack of oxygen. But she did kiss back, right? Did he imagine that?

He replayed the kiss in his mind... taking hold of her face and neck, bringing her to him, kissing like there was no tomorrow and yeah, there was totally reciprocation there. He remembered the way her soft lips felt against his and how she smelled of lilac, white wine and something that was just Mindy, maybe it was plum. He smiled, lost in his fantasy, too lost to notice a certain someone had recovered and was sneaking out of his apartment. It wasn't until he heard the door _click _that he realized she was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

**This is the last chapter everyone. Time for a new episode! Thanks for the support y'all.**

* * *

Mindy closed the door to Danny's apartment and immediately collapsed outside his door. She had no idea what was happening, what she was doing, where she was going, anything, nothing, she could hardly even breath and the stress gags were starting. "Deep breaths," she thought as she took herself through a calming routine. Finally, she averted her panic attack and had a chance to think.

First question: what just happened? Danny kissed her and she passed out. Danny kissed her and she liked it. Danny kissed her and she kissed him back. Yikes! Okay, okay, so what now? They worked together, this would complicate things. Right? But, she had been sexing Jeremy when they worked together at this same practice and that had turned out okay. Truth was, she was afraid. Somehow Danny had become her bestie. He's risen all the way to the best friend tier, heck he may have even created a tier of his own. "A Danny tier," she thought.

And that's when the other shoe dropped.

Mindy bolted up. Her mind was finally clear. She lifted her hand to knock on the door when it opened and she found herself staring at a very stunned Danny.

* * *

He just stood there, frozen. She'd left, run away, she didn't want him. This was the answer he'd been dreading. Suddenly it felt like all the air had left the room as heat rose in his cheeks. He touched them, he was blushing, he was embarrassed. Sadness was about to wash over him, when he felt something stirring inside him: anger. That's right, he, Danny Castellano, was going to skip over the sadness and go straight to the anger.

Who was she to run out on him right after sharing an intimate moment? No, he wasn't going to stand for this. He wasn't going to allow his workplace to become an awkward nightmare. He was going to confront her and she was going to have to answer for her actions. Yeah. He strode over to the door and swung it open.

* * *

They played the staring game for a minute before Danny started to speak, "Look Mindy-"

"No wait Danny, let me say something first. I'm sure you're not happy with me for just running out of here, but I panicked and I needed a minute to think. Now that I've had that chance, I've realized something. And that thing is that I keep living each day like I'm going to end up in some kind of romantic comedy and I search desperately for the guy who can make that fantasy real, but I didn't have to be jumping through all these hoops and checking criteria of a list. And the reason why I didn't have to be doing any of this is because of you. You're my handsome jerk turned romantic love interest and I'm just sorry it took me so long to figure that out. So I dunno, would you like to go out sometime? In a non-work or friendship related capacity?"

Danny's insides felt like a hurricane had just blown through them, probably because one had. Hurricane Mindy: always there to make him feel like up is down and like his tongue is made of cotton candy and snakeskin. God, where did that combo come from? Hurricane Mindy, that's where. Danny took a deep breath and tried to speak, but like so many times before he couldn't seem to find the words. But who needs words? Danny Castellano was a man of action, a man of action who apparently thought about himself in the third person, but a man of action nonetheless.

Danny took one step forward to close the distance and effectively invade her personal bubble. He looked down at her softly and allowed his forehead to slowly connect with hers as the back his left hand came forward to stroke her cheek. And then somewhere in the eye of the storm came a word that thankfully made sense in the context of her question. "Okay."


End file.
